Hiding
by Elliewelly1
Summary: Here's a oneshot for my birthday. Read inside!


**So here's a one-shot I wrote especially for you guys since it's me birthday :P 14 sounds so much older than 13, don't you think? :')**

**This is set before Danny and Alice got together- I hope it makes sense! This is how I ALWAYS saw them getting together :P (Before the storm ep, of course)**

**_The song that goes with this is 'Winner at a losing game' by Rascal Flatts_**

**_Hiding _**

**"**_**Have you ever had to love someone,**  
**That just don't feel the same?"**_

By Danny's side was, of course, Vanessa. They walked up towards the house, smiling at each other, in a way that made Alice's eyes sting with tears. She fought those tears and plastered a fake smile to her face, so the others wouldn't see. But of course, they all did. They all sat around the table awaiting on Danny, who Vanessa had just asked to talk with 'in private'. And they all saw Alice's facial expression, the heartache she felt, no matter how much she tried to hide it. They saw how she watched after Danny and Vanessa with a longing, as if wishing she were Vanessa. But why would anyone want to be Vanessa? She had nobody. Here, Alice had a family- she also had someone who loved her. All of Leopards Den except Danny and Alice saw it, how they were both madly in love with each other but neither were willing to say anything for fear of rejection.

None of them were quite sure where Vanessa fit into the equation. Danny + Alice = Love. Simple as. Vanessa could never compete to that. She tried, oh yes she tried so hard to try and get Danny to feel what he felt for Alice, but it was like Danny and Alice were soul mates. They could never feel what they felt for each other with anyone else. Vanessa just didn't seem to get that. And neither did Danny or Alice, they didn't realise that they felt the same way about each other. Like some force beyond nature, maybe even beyond fate, was pushing them together. But every time they got closer something just seemed to snap between them and then they'd drift apart for a while. That was where Vanessa would slyly sneak in and make advantage of Danny's good nature- as if warning Alice away. As if claiming territory that wasn't rightfully hers.

Danny walked with Vanessa and then she smiled up at him and told him she best be going. Out of sheer politeness, Danny asked Vanessa to stay and have dinner with them. Alice stabbed harder at her meal with her fork. Dupe held back a smirk.

Vanessa saw Alice's half-livid face (Only half because she was trying to hide her emotions) and wondered how Alice would react if she accepted to eat dinner at Leopards Den. She wondered if maybe it would cause another ridge between Danny and Alice. Vanessa was painfully aware that they were both in love with each other and she wanted to pull them apart and make Danny fall in love with herself, so _so _much. But now wasn't the time. Not in front of everyone else anyway, so she declined Danny's polite offer, and she felt her heart sink a little when Danny didn't even look hurt at her refusal- but she told herself that she _was _getting somewhere with Danny. She had to be. She didn't know what else to do.

Alice's grip on her fork lightened and she wasn't so violent with her food anymore.

Dupe bit back a smirk and Georgina and Nomsa smiled to their selves. Nobody else really reacted, Danny least of all. He simply innocently ambled towards the table and took his seat- opposite Alice.

The conversation was strained, for some odd reason. Did the anger and jealousy that Alice felt have effect on the conversation? Probably. Alice shot Danny many dark looks, which he had no idea why he was given them. Danny assumed it might've been about the argument they had over Alice buying that giraffe, and tried his best not to look hurt. But of course he was. The woman he loved was shooting him dagger looks for gods sake!

Somehow, the conversation dragged over to the topic of Vanessa.

"You'd think that she'd be too concerned about her opening than to have time to drive over here and make small talk!" Alice remarked bitterly.

"She has got workers though, unlike us." Danny pointed out. Dupe struggled to keep his laughter back at the expression on Alice's face. She shot Dupe a warning glare, sensing his giggles, and the seriousness on her face stopped his laughter immediately.

"Yeah exactly, she has workers of her own, so why you're always off doing her work I don't know!" Alice told Danny, and Danny frowned. Rosie, Max and Evan watched the scene unfurl around them with raised eyebrows. They'd never really seen Danny and Alice argue before, especially not over Vanessa- of all people!

Danny struggled to keep his anger under control. Ever since Sarah had… passed… he hadn't been as much as a violent person as he used to be- because of Alice. But right now, seeing her insult Vanessa for no reason and sort-of insult himself, well it made him very frustrated to say the least. What was her obsession with making snide little remarks about Vanessa? Vanessa was a good, loyal neighbour. Danny's brain picked up on the 'neighbour' part and managed to gather a few words in his brain to string out a sentence that he hoped made sense.

"I'm just being a good neighbour!"

Alice laughed, "Yeah right Danny."

Danny frowned, "What the hell are you implying? What does it matter to you anyway, you're perfectly capable of looking after the hospital for a bit without me! You're always making little remarks about Vanessa and I don't see what your problem is Alice! What have you got against her?"

Alice blushed at this, and looked down awkwardly at her plate. Dupe smiled smugly to himself and the rest felt rather awkward, though Georgina thought of it all as rather cute how they were oblivious to each others obvious love, yet at the same time the whole thing was completely annoying. How could they miss it? Just look at the situation! And Alice _was _constantly making little remarks about Vanessa- didn't Danny see the jealousy etched into every fibre of her being? And didn't Alice see how Danny always seemed to become more clumsier and a bit more dopey when she was around? Like a love-sick puppy? How could they miss it? Georgina found herself in a very frustrated mood indeed. But then that faltered and she smiled when she saw Alice blush tomato red and look down at her plate.

Alice did the only thing she was good at when backed into a corner- she ran away.

"I'm not hungry." She stated very calmly- too calmly- placing her cutlery down on the table and clambering out of her seat, crossing the veranda. Danny blinked.

"Hey! Don't you walk away from me Alice!" He cried, jumping out of his seat and following after her.

Alice sighed and rolled her eyes. Then she headed down the steps, towards the animal hospital. She really, really, _really _didn't want to tell Danny the reason that she was always making remarks about Vanessa was because she was madly in love with him, but she knew he was going to get something like that out of her. Alice would rather it be in private- not in front of everyone else. So she headed towards the animal hospital, she knew Danny would follow. Alice could feel the stares on her back as she stormed away. She could hear the heavy beat of Danny's footsteps against the bumpy African ground behind her, and the occasional 'Alice!' by him. But she blocked him out of his thoughts.

Okay, so that was impossible. Danny took up all the memory in her brain, so there was no way she could ever block him out of her thoughts. All she had to do was close her eyes and still she'd see his own gentle green ones staring back at her through her own imagination. Alice felt her heart race at the thought of his smile, the way he talked, his laugh… God, Danny was so contagious it was unreal! Was he aware that he did this to her? Or was he totally oblivious? She had tried to hide it. She didn't want anyone to see. But Dupe had already confronted her about it and she'd crumbled under the pressure and told him that infact, yes, she was madly in love with Danny. He kept telling her to tell Danny, but how could she? Danny was clearly in love with Vanessa, Alice wouldn't want to make things awkward. But what if he was simply only being a good neighbour and the jealousy she felt just seemed to block that? Alice shook her head, trying to push the thoughts out of her mind- she was getting a rather large headache.

"Right." She said when they'd reached inside the animal hospital, she flung herself down on one of the- currently cold- wooden chairs there. She'd sat there many times with Danny, trying to teach him how to do the paperwork; which he always failed at and she always ended up doing it anyway. But that was just another cute side of Danny. Alice smiled to herself at the memory, and then remembered where she was. Alice looked over at Danny, who had placed himself in the chair opposite her, frowning at her. "I'm gonna be completely truthful with you Danny for this evening, as long as in return you'll be completely truthful to me. If I ask any questions you ask them truthfully and if you have any questions I answer them truthfully. Deal?"

Danny frowned at her, "I tell you everything Alice!" Danny found himself admitting a little bit way too defensively, his voice hitting a higher octave than usual. Okay, maybe he'd been lying- but he could hardly tell her he loved her, could he? She'd never fall for an old, out-dated, pro like him.

Alice felt herself blushing. "Is it a deal?" She pestered.

Danny sighed, "Fine. Deal. Yeah."

Alice smiled, "So I… I was wondering…" Alice looked down at her hands, and Danny saw a wave of hurt flicker across her beautiful face.

Danny fought the urge to take her in his arms and comfort her. But how could he not want to? He hated seeing her go like this. Quiet, withdrawn, a little scared. That was the complete opposite of the Alice he knew and loved! (Not that he loved her any less like this obviously). The Alice he had learned to know was strong, fiery, independent, fiesty, beautiful- no, gorgeous, stunning, breath-taking. Just one look into her amazing sapphire blue eyes and he was lost, on another planet. One of those dazzling grins and his pulse would race so high he felt like he'd pass out!

"What does…" Alice took a deep breath and told herself not to be such a coward. "What does Vanessa mean to you?"

Danny seemed surprised, what was it with Alice and Vanessa? "What is it with you and her?"

"You never answered my question."

"You never answered mine."

Alice knew he was referring to his earlier one at the table.

Alice went quiet again. She mused on the thought of telling Danny she loved him. How would he react? Would things be really awkward between them after? What if she did tell him and things went awkward, would she have to move away? She couldn't. Alice knew that the possibility of leaving was impossible. She couldn't stay away from Danny. She loved him with every single fibre in her body, with every last shard of her broken heart. She wasn't quite sure when she had fallen in love with him. When she'd first met him she'd actually hated him. But first impressions weren't always true- Danny had come off as an arrogant, old pro who didn't want anyone in the way. But that was so unlike Danny in everyway. Alice had been so wrong.

Danny sighed, knowing Alice wasn't going to answer his question, at least not until he answered his first. "Fine. I'll tell you what's going on between me and Vanessa."

Alice lifted her head to meet his eyes. Her cobalt blue met his own gentle green, like sapphires and emeralds sparkling in the dull light the one light bulb that was suspended above them gave off. There were small tears gathered in her eyes and a lump formed in her throat. So there was something between Danny and Vanessa. She fought to burst into sobs on the spot- she couldn't do that. Danny would be so utterly confused and then she'd have to explain. Alice would have to somehow manage to hold back the sobs until she was back in the confined spaces of her room.

"Nothing." Danny told her, and was confused when she saw the tears in her eyes.

She laughed bitterly, "As if! Danny I thought you agreed to tell me the truth! I should've _known _you'd lie!" Alice cried, and went to stand.

Danny gripped her wrist in his own giant hand, jumping up so he towered over her small figure. Alice whipped around on the spot, tugging on Danny's grip. But he was too strong for her to escape. "Alice," He said her name softly, the octaves of his voice seemed to sigh as her name escaped his lips, "I've been honest with you- and it's not my fault if you don't believe me, I would _never _lie to you." Danny pleaded with her, taking her other wrist into his right hand, pulling her around so she was facing him. But she kept her eyes averted- knowing that by now he'd see the tears if she looked at him. "Now, you promised me total honesty- and I just want you to answer this one question, if I mean anything at all to you." Alice's eyes flickered up and met his briefly- of course he meant something to her! He meant _everything _to her… "I just want to know, what is it that you hate so much about Vanessa?"

Alice tried and tried repeatedly to yank her arms out of Danny's grip but he held tight, refusing to let go, he just had to know what Alice had so much against Vanessa! Vanessa was a innocent woman, wasn't she? She was a friendly neighbour, and always came to leopards Den if she was ever in trouble. Was that was Alice hated about her? That she always needed Leopards Den's help? Alice wasn't like that though, she wouldn't want to not help someone, or wreck their business. Would she? Danny thought that he knew the real Alice- the person he'd fallen in love with so much that it'd hurt. But he guessed that was why they called it 'falling' in love- you get hurt when you fall.

"I just-" Alice thought for a moment and then tried to wrench her hands out of Danny's grip again and, once again, failed miserably. She pulled a face, "Don't like her." She mumbled, tugging again, pleading at Danny with her eyes to let her go. Alice could feel her tear ducts starting to win her internal conflict.

"But you can't just hate someone-" Danny started, and then Alice couldn't control her tears and broke out into tears, sobs escaping from her slightly parted lips.

Danny stood frozen for a moment, completely shocked at this- Alice _didn't cry. _Not over something so trivial as Vanessa! And then he did the only thing he could think of doing, which he'd always wished to do. Danny let go of her wrists and wrapped his long arms around her quivering body, and she gripped her arms like a vice around his back, hiding her head in his chest, not thinking about how many times she'd dreamt to be held in Danny's arms. Danny closed his eyes and pressed a kiss to her forehead- she wouldn't mind, would she? He was comforting her, right? Or did it seem too over friendly? Maybe he was just being paranoid.

Danny tried not to think about how many times he'd longed to hold her in his arms. After all, Alice was crying, he was supposed to be comforting her. And although he felt blissful at the fact that he was holding her; he really felt downright miserable. Danny hated seeing Alice like this. The Alice he knew didn't cry, sob, or break down. She was a strong, feisty, independent woman. She wasn't this- a trembling woman being comforted, by him of all people!

Danny felt his shirt growing damp as time passed by and he didn't release his grip on her- so many minutes passed by but neither were willing to let go. Alice didn't want to give up this chance even though she was a sobbing wreck and Danny didn't want her to leave in this state. He knew she wouldn't want to be like this in front of the other members of Leopards Den, anyway. They all thought of Alice as a strong, fiery, independent woman, too.

Dupe watched as the rest of the family gathered out on the veranda as they did on many evenings, each sipping their drink and starting up the occasional chat. They'd all moved on without Danny and Alice, who were missing, still in that animal hospital. If Charlotte and Evan weren't around, Dupe probably would have said something suggestive about this fact. Why had Alice gone into the animal hospital, anyway? And how could Danny be such a god damned idiot that he didn't see that Alice was blatantly in love with him? Dupe sighed wearily and took a sip of his beer. He decided if that they didn't get together today, he was gonna have to intervene.

Charlotte yawned loudly and Nomsa looked over to her and smiled affectionately. She was glad that Alice and Charlotte had come here. She had missed the good old days when Olivia and Evan were young children, running about and causing mayhem, while Sarah tried to boost business but failed every time, and Danny would be so lost in his plans of making an animal hospital that he barely noticed anything besides his work. Nomsa was sure that if he hadn't stopped spending so much time with the animals alone, he'd probably start speaking their language.

"I think it is time I put you to bed." Nomsa told Charlotte.

"But I haven't said goodnight to mum yet!" Charlotte protested, pouting.

Nomsa sighed, "Go run to the hospital, quickly, and say goodnight to your mother." She knew Charlotte wouldn't go to bed without saying goodnight to Alice. It was slightly annoying considering they always had to hunt Alice down, but it was cute in its own way, showing how much Alice and Charlotte depended on one another.

Dupe gave Charlotte a look of indecision, he didn't know whether to stop her or not. What if Alice had poured her heart out to Danny? They had gone in there, arguing with _passion, _after all…

Alice was sure she was dreaming now. After all, Danny had pressed another delicate kiss to her forehead.

Forcing her blubbering to stop, slightly embarrassed, she pulled away and looked at him oddly, "Did you just kiss my forehead?" She asked abruptly, knowing that she was dreaming so it didn't matter whether she was rude or not- she wouldn't have had the guts to say it to the real Danny anyway.

Danny blushed red, he couldn't help it, it had just felt right to kiss her again. "Yes." He answered quietly.

"Are you blushing?" She asked disbelievingly.

Again, Danny answered quietly, "Yes."

Alice sighed. "Is that all my imagination could come up with?"

"What?" Danny asked, perplexed, a small dent forming between his eyebrows as he frowned.

Alice rolled her eyes, "Now it says another word."

"Did you just refer to me as 'it'?" Danny asked, confused, wondering what the hell Alice was going on about.

"And is kissing my forehead all you're really going to do?" She gave him an odd look. "Because usually, in my dreams, there's way much more than that."

The topic of Alice breaking down seemed to have been forgotten, but her eyes were still red and slightly puffing, and her head was throbbing. But you couldn't feel when you dreamt, could you? Alice rubbed her forehead, confused, as Danny stood staring at her dumbly, wondering what the hell she was on about. Dreams? Why was he in her dreams? And what did she mean by 'way much more than that'?

Alice decided that there was only one way to find out if she was dreaming or not, as now she was a little bit undecided. If she kissed Danny, like her dreams usually entailed, and he kissed her back, then she was obviously dreaming. If she kissed him, and he didn't kiss back… well she was going to seem like a right nutter and would have made the biggest fool out of herself, ever. Of course, it was going to be as awkward as hell, but she was 75% sure she was dreaming. She just had to sort out the nagging in the back of her head that told her it wasn't.

"Right then, if I'm gonna dream, I'm gonna do what I want." She mumbled, trying to big herself up for it, Danny continued to frown at her.

Alice took a step forward to him, even though she had been extremely close to him before, her body pressed up against his. Danny's eyes widened slightly as she stood on her toes like a ballerina and wrapped her arms around his shoulders firmly. Then her beautiful blue eyes shuttered closed and her lips clamped around his.

Danny had no idea what had driven her to do this, but hey, he wasn't complaining. His own eyes closed and he wrapped his arms around her waist, hugging her tightly. Maybe this was the only chance he was going to get, and if even it made him look like a fool, he was going to make the most of it.

Alice couldn't place her finger on what was wrong. Danny had kissed her, which affirmed she was dreaming, but something was different.

That was when it clicked.

As her fingers knotted in Danny's greying hair she realised that she could feel. She could feel the soft taste of Danny's lips moving in time with her own. Alice could feel shots of electricity shooting through her veins, causing her to deepen the kiss. Yet it was sweet, fresh, new… like a first kiss.

Alice jumped back, wide-eyed.

"Fuck!" She cried, "I'm not dreaming!"

Danny's mouth fell open, "And you just randomly kiss me when you're dreaming?"

Alice blushed, "Hey- you kissed me back!"

Charlotte watched in amazement as her mums lips locked with Danny's, and she smiled to herself, even though she ought to have been repulsed and she found the fact that someone wanted to swap germs with someone a bit silly. But she was happy. Charlotte had known for a long time that her mum was in love with Danny. She'd go all glassy-eyed and smiley. And she'd known for a long time that Danny was in love with her mum, after all- the look on his face had said it all when he'd seen his mum kiss Terry. (Now there was a kiss that had repulsed her!) He'd looked really sad!

Charlotte heard her mum say a bad word and something about dreaming, and skipped off happily, leaving them to it. She was sure her mum wouldn't want her interrupting. When she caught sight of her family (Dupe had said they were part of the family, and she thought of them as family, so they wouldn't mind her calling them family, would they?) she grinned and sprinted towards them. They all did a double-take at her.

"Since when has she been eager to get to bed?" Dupe asked gruffly as Charlotte reached the stairs.

Breathlessly, Charlotte exclaimed, "My mum and Danny were kissing!"

Everyone blinked, and Dupe smiled to himself.

"They were what?" Evan asked, "But they were arguing!"

"Honest!" Charlotte told them, "I knew they were in love with each other and that for ages, and then when I walked up mum was saying something but I couldn't hear what and as I went to step in she flung her arms around him and kissed him!" She told them excitedly.

Dupe raised an eyebrow, "And you just walked in?"

Charlotte shook her head, "No Dupe, I walked away to tell you lot! Although I did hear mum say the F word and something about dreaming."

Dupe spat out his beer that he'd been drinking, causing the froth to dribble down his beard, but he was too busy laughing to even bother to wipe it away. Everyone else seemed to be biting back their laughter too, even Evan. While Charlotte stood in the middle of them innocently, not understand what was so funny, because she didn't realise the true meaning of what her mum had said…

Alice whacked the side of her head repeatedly, until Danny stepped forward and moved her hand away, "What the hell are you doing?"

Alice flushed with embarrassment and turned away, "How can I be so stupid?" She yelled, grabbing the nearest thing to her- a stethoscope- and hurling it at the wall. Letting out her frustrations through violence. Danny seemed surprised at this- since when had been violent? Alice whirled around to him, "And why didn't you stop me? Tell me I wasn't dreaming?" She demanded.

Before Danny knew it, he admitted, "I didn't want you to stop."

Alice stared at him, her crystal blue eyes wide, "You what?"

Danny looked down at his feet. "Didn't want you to stop." He mumbled, like a schoolboy being told off by his teacher.

"And why was that?" Alice asked quietly.

It took Danny a long time to fight for the confidence to look up and tell her why. But she'd kissed him, when she thought she was dreaming, so didn't that count for something? Danny looked up shyly, "Cause I…" Danny took a deep breath, and walked towards her, took her face in his hands and kissed her, "Because I love you, Alice Collins."

Alice wasn't sure whether he heard her "I love you too."

But she was sure she said it all with a kiss.

**4550 Words, I am pretty proud of how many I'd done. Though I am a little sad that not much happened.**

**I wish WAH was on **_**on**_** my birthday, that would make me very happy. I can't wait till series 6! Grr!**

**Ah well, at lest he doctor who finale is on my birthday :D that makes me happy at least :P **

**Can I now take the chance to say I appreciate everyone who reviews ^_^ And I hate people who don't when they blatantly can.**

**Uploaded ten minutes into my birthday:D**


End file.
